Bedroom.
Sniff, sniff…
Cipher's nose twitched; the small motion wiped the ease from her face and drew her brows together.
"Why… do I smell such a strong stench of blood?"
Sniff, sniff…
Her nose quivered again. Cipher's eyes snapped open and she scrambled out of bed.
"It's not my imagination. Where did all this blood come from—what happened?"
Puzzled, she opened the door and stepped into the living-room.
The instant she saw the scene by the entrance, her eyes went wide.
Now she knew where the overwhelming reek of blood originated.
Ethan stood in the doorway, blood seeping from head to toe. Cuts gouged his arms, chest, shoulders, even his cheeks—some looked like knife slashes with flesh curled open, others like bullet wounds and grazes from gunfire.
Dark-red fascia and pale subcutaneous tissue lay exposed to the air, a heart-stopping sight.
Blood streamed from those ghastly injuries, trickling down his body and leaving a trail of scarlet footprints behind him.
In his arms he carried Lauren and Jasmine, both unconscious. Their injuries were mostly scrapes—nothing compared with the blood-soaked Ethan.
Claire stood beside the door, stunned, hand still on the knob as if she had just opened it.
"Claire! Let Ethan in—now! I'll check outside for enemies."
Cipher reacted first, shouting at Claire before dashing out.
Outside the door she swept her gaze left and right.
All she saw were the bloody footprints Ethan had left; no sign of any assailant.
Finding no immediate threat, Cipher hurried back inside. Claire was examining Ethan while Lauren and Jasmine lay on the sofa.
"Claire, how is he?"
Cipher shut the door and asked anxiously.
Claire shook her head, face grim. "Over-clocked ability tore most of his muscles; add in knife and bullet wounds and he's bleeding out—critical condition."
"He needs treatment right now. I'll grab medical supplies from the basement; Boss Cipher, watch things up here."
With that she turned toward the study.
Cipher watched her go, then looked at Ethan.
"Hah… time to use that function again…"
'I possess Hyacine's incredibly potent healing power.'
[300,000 credit points consumed. Lie has become truth; it will revert in ten minutes]
As the system voice finished, She felt a force capable of healing anything surge endlessly within her.
"It's working!"
Delight flashed across her face as she directed the power toward Ethan.
Energy flowed out and, visibly, his wounds began to close.
Moments later Claire returned holding a canister.
"I'll start treating—huh?"
She had barely knelt when she saw Ethan's injuries healing at visible speed.
After a stunned second she glanced at Cipher. "Boss Cipher, did you do this?"
Cipher nodded. "Friends of mine is a brilliant healer; I picked up a bit of healing myself."
"This…"
Claire was lost for words.
Blinding speed could be explained by good physique, immunity to a death-curse by some mighty relic or blessing.
And the more credit points she had the stronger she got—maybe a rare special-type ability.
But a healing type power too? Everyone should awaken only one ability…
Yet she had just witnessed a healing skill in action; the proof was undeniable.
Had Boss Cipher lied about the credit-point thing? Was medical the real ability?
If so, where did her combat strength come from? Could a medical ability really let her kill two A+-rank fighters?
Claire felt her brain overheating. She stood frozen, canister in hand, staring at Cipher.
'Hm? Why is Claire spacing out?'
Cipher wondered, about to ask, when the system's voice rang in her head.
[Beep!]
[Claire is questioning the lie of 'money equal strength']
[Dispel the doubt or Trickery Divine Power will deactivate and some system functions will lock]
Cipher's eyes bulged. What—why did Claire doubt that lie? Was it because of what I just said?
Her mind raced and soon pinned down the culprit.
She drew a deep breath, organized her words, and tapped Claire's shoulder.
"Why standing there in a daze? Aren't you going to treat Ethan?"
"Sorry, I was thinking."
The tap snapped Claire back; she apologized and moved to treat him.
"Thinking… about where my healing came from?"
"Ah?"
Startled that Cipher voiced it, Claire nodded honestly.
"Remember I told you credit points have a special use for me? Well—this is it."
She raised her hand; a seven-coloured gleam flashed and Ethan's wounds healed further.
Claire understood at once.
"Boss, you mean… you bought this healing skill with that power?"
"Exactly!" Cipher beamed, folding her arms. "I can use some extra ability at cost of real money. Pretty neat, right?"